Apparatus for controlling group driving and method thereof

ABSTRACT

The apparatus for controlling group driving according to as aspect may include an inter-vehicle communication unit for communicating with a leader vehicle to receive the driving state and traveling track of the leader vehicle, a leader vehicle learning unit for learning a driving pattern of the leader vehicle based on the driving state of the leader vehicle received through the inter-vehicle communication unit, an autonomous drive unit for autonomously driving the follower vehicle in accordance with the traveling track of the leader vehicle, and a follow-up control unit for receiving the driving state of the leader vehicle to learn the driving pattern of the leader vehicle, controlling the autonomous drive unit to follow the traveling track of the leader vehicle, and performing the autonomous driving by applying the driving pattern of the leader vehicle.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to Korean application number10-2017-0168191, filed on Dec. 8, 2017, which is incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus for controlling groupdriving and a method thereof, and more particularly, to an apparatus anda method for controlling the group driving, which enable a followervehicle to follow a leader vehicle based on the driving patterns of theleader vehicle learned during the group follow-up driving to maintain agroup driving in a case where the follower vehicle deviates from thegroup driving.

Generally, the group driving means that a plurality of vehicles groupedinto one group share traveling information with each other and travel onthe road while considering the external environment.

One group includes a leader vehicle and follower vehicles. The leadervehicle is the vehicle that leads the group at the head of the group,and the follower vehicles are the vehicles that follow the leadervehicle.

The follower vehicles of the group can keep follow-up to the leadervehicle by using traveling information of the leader vehicle (forexample, GPS coordinates, speed, route, direction, and brakeinformation) transmitted through an inter-vehicle communication methodor the like. Accordingly, the driver of the follower vehicle can freelyperform other actions (for example, smartphone operation, sleeping)other than driving inside the vehicle. Such group driving increases theconvenience of the driver and improves the transportation efficiency.

The follower vehicle may fail to follow the leader vehicle and departfrom the group during the group driving depending on the state of theroad and the traffic congestion state. In this case, when the followervehicle follows the leader vehicle and wants to keep the group driving,there is a problem that it is difficult to keep the group driving againwhen the autonomous drive is performed based on the normal drivingpattern.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in order to solve theabove-mentioned problem, and embodiments of the present inventionprovide an apparatus and a method for controlling group driving, whichenable a follow vehicle to follow a leader vehicle based on a drivingpattern of the leader vehicle learned during the group driving and keepthe group driving when the follower vehicles of the group deviates fromthe group driving.

The apparatus for controlling group driving according to an aspect ofthe present invention may include an inter-vehicle communication unitfor communicating with a leader vehicle to receive the driving state andtraveling track of the leader vehicle, a leader vehicle learning unitfor learning a driving pattern of the leader vehicle based on thedriving state of the leader vehicle received through the inter-vehiclecommunication unit, an autonomous drive unit for autonomously drivingthe follower vehicle in accordance with the traveling track of theleader vehicle, and a follow-up control unit for receiving the drivingstate of the leader vehicle to learn the driving pattern of the leadervehicle, controlling the autonomous drive unit to follow the travelingtrack of the leader vehicle, and performing the autonomous driving byapplying the driving pattern of the leader vehicle.

The apparatus may further include a storage for storing the drivingstate and the traveling track of the leader vehicle received from theleader vehicle and the driving pattern of the leader vehicle.

The driving state of the leader vehicle may include at least one of lanechange timing, an entry steer angle and an entry speed in accordancewith type and situation of the road in the leader vehicle.

The follow-up control unit may perform autonomous driving so that thefollower vehicle joins the group driving by applying the driving patternof the leader vehicle when the follower vehicle deviates from the groupdriving.

A method of controlling group driving according to another aspect of thepresent invention may include: performing, by a follow-up control unit,group driving through an autonomous drive unit according to a travelingtrack received from a leader vehicle; receiving, by the follow-upcontrol unit, a driving state of the leader vehicle from the leadervehicle during the group driving to learn a driving pattern of theleader vehicle; and performing, by the follow-up control unit,autonomous driving by applying the driving pattern of the leadervehicle.

The driving state of the leader vehicle may include at least one of lanechange timing, an entry steer angle and an entry speed in accordancewith the type and situation of the road in the leader vehicle.

The method may further include: storing, by the follow-up control unit,the traveling track and the driving state of the leader vehicle receivedfrom the leader vehicle and the driving pattern of the leader vehicle ina storage.

In performing autonomous driving, the follow-up control unit determineswhether the follower vehicle has deviated from the group driving andperforms the autonomous driving so that the follower vehicle joins thegroup driving by applying the driving pattern of the leader vehicle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for controllinggroup driving according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of controlling groupdriving according to an embodiment of the present invention, and

FIGS. 3-11 are views showing group driving.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Hereafter, an apparatus and a method for controlling group driving inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention will be describedin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should benoted that the drawings are not to precise scale and may be exaggeratedin thickness of lines or sizes of components for descriptive convenienceand clarity only. Furthermore, the terms as used herein are defined bytaking functions of the invention into account and can be changedaccording to the custom or intention of users or operators. Therefore,definition of the terms should be made according to the overalldisclosures set forth herein.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for controllinggroup driving according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the apparatus for controlling group drivingaccording to an embodiment of the present invention may include aninter-vehicle communication unit 10, a leader vehicle learning unit 20,an autonomous drive unit 40, a follow-up control unit 30, and a storage50.

As is traditional in the corresponding field, some exemplary embodimentsmay be illustrated in the drawings in terms of functional blocks, units,and/or modules. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thatthese block, units, and/or modules are physically implemented byelectronic (or optical) circuits such as logic circuits, discretecomponents, processors, hard-wired circuits, memory elements, wiringconnections, and the like. When the blocks, units, and/or modules areimplemented by processors or similar hardware, they may be programmedand controlled using software (e.g., code) to perform various functionsdiscussed herein. Alternatively, each block, unit, and/or module may beimplemented by dedicated hardware or as a combination of dedicatedhardware to perform some functions and a processor (e.g., one or moreprogrammed processors and associated circuitry) to perform otherfunctions. Each block, unit, and/or module of some exemplary embodimentsmay be physically separated into two or more interacting and discreteblocks, units, and/or modules without departing from the scope of theinventive concept. Further, blocks, units, and/or module of someexemplary embodiments may be physically combined into more complexblocks, units, and/or modules without departing from the scope of theinventive concept.

The inter-vehicle communication unit 10 may communicate with the leadervehicle based on the V2X (Vehicle to Everything) communicationtechnology and receive the driving state and traveling track of theleader vehicle.

The V2X communication technology is a technology that can connect thevehicle to external objects including road infrastructure (V2I) andpedestrians (V2P) as well as communication between vehicles (V2V) byinstalling communication function in the vehicle. To this end, theinter-vehicle communication unit 10 may include configurations such as aprocessor, a memory, a decoder, an encoder, an antenna and the like toperform the communication function.

The storage 50 may store the driving pattern of the leader vehicle aswell as the driving state and traveling track of the leader vehiclereceived from the leader vehicle. The storage 50 may be a storage devicesuch as a memory.

The leader vehicle learning unit 20, the follow-up control unit 30 andthe autonomous drive unit 40 may include processors physicallyimplemented by electronic (or optical) circuits such as logic circuits,discrete components, processors, hard wired circuits, memory devices andinterconnections to perform data processing.

The leader vehicle learning unit 20 may learn the driving pattern of theleader vehicle based on the driving state of the leader vehicle,received through the inter-vehicle communication unit 10. Here, thedriving state of the leader vehicle may include lane change timing, anentry steer angle, and an entry speed depending on the road type and thesituation in the leader vehicle.

That is, if the steering angle of the leader vehicle suddenly changes toa predetermined range or more or when the steering angle is inputted inthe direction of operation of the turn signal lamp, it is determined asthe lane changing timing, so that the steering angle at the time ofchanging lane can be determined and provided as an entry steering angleand the speed at the time of changing the lane can be determined andprovided as the entry speed.

Further, the road type and situation at the time of lane changing arealso provided together, so that road curvature is analyzed according toroad type and situation, and lane change rate and changing timing areanalyzed to learn the driving pattern.

Accordingly, the leader vehicle learning unit 20 may learn the drivingpattern of the leader vehicle based on the driving state inputted fromthe leader vehicle and apply the driving pattern of the leader vehicleduring the follow-up driving.

The autonomous drive unit 40 may enable the follower vehicle toautonomously drive in accordance with the travel track of the leadervehicle to perform follow-up driving.

To this end, the autonomous drive unit 40 may include a front camera, arear camera and an ultrasonic sensor for sensing the front, rear andperiphery of the vehicle, uses high-precision map information to analyzethe situation of the traveling road such as the shape and width of theroad, the number of line, the curvature, the uphill and downhill angleand the like and the traffic congestion, and outputs a control signal toperform engine control, braking control and steering control, therebyperforming autonomous traveling of the vehicle.

The follow-up control unit 30 may receive the driving state of theleader vehicle to learn the driving pattern of the leader vehicle,control the autonomous drive unit 40 to follow the traveling track ofthe leader vehicle, and apply the driving pattern of the leader vehicleto perform autonomous driving.

That is, the follow-up control unit 30 may receive the traveling trackfrom the leader vehicle of the group driving through the inter-vehiclecommunication unit 10 to store it in the storage 50, and perform groupfollow-up driving through the autonomous drive unit 40 to follow thetraveling track, thereby maintaining the group driving.

At this time, the follow-up control unit 30 may receive the drivingstate of the leader vehicle from the leader vehicle and learn thedriving pattern of the leader vehicle, so that the lane change can beperformed by applying the driving pattern of the leader vehicle whenperforming follow-up driving.

In addition, when the distance from the leader vehicle is longer thanthe preset distance, the follow-up control unit 30 may apply theoperation pattern of the leader vehicle to the follower vehicle so thatthe follower vehicle can join the group driving with the leader vehiclemore quickly.

As described above, according to the apparatus for controlling groupdriving of the embodiment of the present invention, when the followervehicle of the group driving deviates from the group driving, thefollower vehicle follows the leader vehicle based on the driving patternof the leader vehicle, which is learned during the group follow-updriving. Accordingly, even if the road shape and situation change, thefollow-up performance of the leader vehicle can be improved to reducethe deviation from the group driving, and the joining time can bereduced when departed from the group driving.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of controlling groupdriving according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, in the method of controlling group drivingaccording to the embodiment of the present invention, first, thefollow-up control unit 30 may receive the traveling track through theinter-vehicle communication unit 10 from the leader vehicle traveling inthe group, and perform group follow-up driving through the autonomousdrive unit 40 (S10).

At this time, the follow-up control unit 30 may store the receivedtraveling track in the storage 50.

The follow-up control unit 30 may receive the driving state of theleader vehicle from the leader vehicle through the inter-vehiclecommunication unit 10 and store the received driving state of the leadervehicle in the storage 50 (S20), while performing the group follow-updriving in step S10. Here, the driving state of the leader vehicle mayinclude lane change timing, an entry steer angle, and an entry speeddepending on the type and situation of the road in the leader vehicle.

That is, when the steering angle suddenly changes to a predeterminedrange or more or the steering angle is input in the direction ofoperation of the turn signal lamp in the leader vehicle, it isdetermined as the lane change timing, so that the steering angle at thetime of changing lane can be determined and provided as an entrysteering angle and the speed at the time of changing lane can bedetermined and provided as the entry speed.

Further, the road shape and condition are provided together whenchanging lanes, so that the road curvature can be analyzed according tothe road shape and condition and the lane change rate and change timingcan be analyzed to learn driving pattern.

After receiving the driving state of the leader vehicle in step S20, thefollow-up control unit 30 may learn the driving pattern of the leadervehicle based on the driving state inputted from the leader vehiclethrough the leader vehicle learning unit 20, so that the driving patternof the leader vehicle can be applied in the time of follow-up driving(S30).

In this way, the follow-up control unit 30 may learn the driving patternof the leader vehicle by receiving the driving state from the leadervehicle while performing the group follow-up driving to maintain thegroup driving and store the driving pattern in the storage 50.

At this time, the follow-up control unit 30 can improve the follow-upperformance of the leader vehicle by applying the driving pattern of theleader vehicle while performing the autonomous traveling to follow theleader vehicle through the autonomous drive unit.

The follow-up control unit 30 may determine whether the distance fromthe leader vehicle is greater than a preset distance and the followervehicle deviates from the group driving (S40).

If it is determined that the follower vehicle has not deviate from thegroup driving in step S40 and maintains the group driving, the follow-upcontrol unit 30 may return to step S10 and continue to control so thatthe follower vehicle maintains the group driving and performs the groupfollow-up driving.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the follower vehicle hasdeviated from the group driving in step S40, the follow-up control unit30 may perform the autonomous driving so that follower vehicle can jointhe group driving more quickly by applying the driving pattern of theleader vehicle stored in the storage 50 (S50).

As described above, it can be determined that the distance between theleader vehicle and the follower vehicle which are traveling in a groupis greater than the preset distance by the driver of the leader vehicletraveling while changing the lane in a good way in the situation of thetraveling road.

Therefore, when the follower vehicle learns the driving pattern of theleader vehicle to perform follow-up driving such as lane changing orwhen the follower vehicle departs from the group driving, the follow-upcontrol unit 30 may apply the driving pattern of the leader vehicle sothat the follower vehicle can cope with the type and condition of thetraveling road well to join the group driving more quickly.

As described above, according to the method of controlling group drivingof the embodiment of the present invention, when the follower vehicle ofthe group driving deviates from the group driving, the follower vehiclefollows the leader vehicle based on the driving pattern of the leadervehicle, which is learned during the group follow-up driving. Therefore,the follow-up performance of the leader vehicle can be improved toreduce the deviation of the follower vehicle from the group driving andthe joining time can also be reduced when the follower vehicle deviatesfrom the group driving, even if the type and situation of the roadchange.

On the other hand, in the other embodiment of the present invention,apparatus for controlling group driving may further include userinterface and driver status sensors.

The user interface may be a display installed on a vehicle, and if thevehicle joins a group driving, it will display information about thejoining point of the group driving, and the joining point of the groupdriving can be selected by the driver and entered into the follow-upcontrol unit 30. Where, information about the joining points may includethe location of the joining points, distance from the location of thevehicle to the joining point, traffic situation information at thejoining point, and etc.

The user interface guides the exit points before the vehicle arrives atthe destination.

In addition, the user interface provides various information to thedriver when the vehicle joins and leaves the group driving. And the userinterface receives various control commands from the driver, andprovides the driver with a group-related user interface.

The driver status sensors detect the driver's condition of the vehicle.The driver status sensors include a voice sensor that detects thedriver's voice, an image sensor that captures the driver, and abiometric sensor that detects the driver's biological signal.

The driver's voice detected by the voice sensors can be used todetermine if the driver is currently asleep.

The driver's face or eyes captured by an image sensor can be used todetermine if the driver is currently looking forward and whether thedriver is asleep.

Biometric signal sensors detect driver's biological signals, which mayinclude ECG, brainwave, pulse, and blood flow. In addition, biometricsensors can detect a variety of driver signals and are not limited tothe above ECG, brainwave, pulse and blood flow. Biometric signals arethe basis for the driver to determine if he is currently asleep or hasexperienced health problems.

Here, the driver's status information is intended to detect the driver'sbiological signal, but its location or manner is not specificallylimited.

The follow-up control unit 30 detects the driver's condition anddetermines whether leaving the group driving, when starting a groupdriving.

The follow-up control unit 30 determines that leaving from the groupdriving when the driver's condition satisfies the predetermined exitcondition.

The exit condition is a condition that is the basis for determiningwhether to leave the group driving or not. The exit condition shall beexplained later.

If the vehicle is a leader vehicle, the follow-up control unit 30 givesthe leader vehicle authority to the vehicle before leaving the groupdriving.

If the follow-up control unit 30 leaves from the group driving, itperforms driving control to the safety zone or medical institution, andalso sends driver status information to the medical institution serverfor quick action.

Moreover, the follow-up control unit 30 of the leader vehicle collectsdriver status information from the follower vehicles. And the follow-upcontrol unit 30 analyzes the driver status information collected fromeach of these follower vehicles and determines the group order offollower vehicles according to the analysis.

That is, the follow-up control unit 30 of the leader vehicle maydetermine the group queue sequence based on digitized driver statusinformation by digitizing the driver status information received fromeach follower vehicle.

In other words, the follow-up control unit 30 of the leader vehiclerequests driver status information from the follower vehicles, and thefollow-up control unit 30 of follower vehicles transmit the driverstatus information detected by the driver status sensors as shown above.

As driver status information is collected from each follower vehicle,the follow-up control unit 30 of the leader vehicle analyzes the driverstatus information and determines the group sequence of the followervehicles according to the analysis results.

In this case, the follow-up control unit 30 of the leader vehicle maydigitize the driver status information of each follower vehicle andcompare these driver status values to place the vehicles.

Here, the driver's status value can be either a measurement of the ECG,brainwave, pulse or blood flow, or a set value corresponding to theseECG, brainwave, pulse or blood flow measurements.

Moreover, the driver's status values may be the average value of thecorresponding settings for each ECG, brainwave, pulse, or blood flow. Inthis case, the driver's condition values can be calculated by weightingthe ECG, brainwave, pulse, pulse, or blood flow depending on the degreeto which they interfere with the operation or their criticality.

In this regard, if the follow-up control unit 30 of the leader vehicledetermines the order of group driving of follower vehicles according tothe driver's status values, the follow-up control unit 30 controls thefollower vehicles in accordance with the determined group sequence.

That is, the follow-up control unit 30 of the leader vehiclecommunicates the driving information for group driving to each followervehicle, and the follow-up control unit 30 of each follower vehiclecontrols the autonomous drive unit 40 according the driving informationto follow up the leader vehicle.

Meanwhile, in the process of group driving, each of the leader andfollower vehicles may exit from group driving depending on the driver'scondition.

In the process of group driving the follow-up control units 30 of theleader vehicle and the follower vehicles respectively detect the driverstatus.

In this case, each of the following control units 30 of the leadervehicle and the follower vehicles determine that the driver statussatisfies the predetermined exit conditions. And each of the followingcontrol units 30 of the leader vehicle and the follower vehiclesdetermine whether leaving from the group driving according to thedetermination.

In other words, the following control units 30 of the leader vehicle andthe follower vehicles generate a driver status value by digitizing thedriver status information and comparing it to the threshold value.

The threshold values are the criteria for determining that a driver'shealth condition is abnormal and can vary depending on the driver'scondition values listed above.

The following control units 30 of the leader vehicle and the followervehicles perform leaving the group driving when the driver status valuebelow the threshold. In that case, the following control units 30 of theleader vehicle and the follower vehicles transmits the driver statusinformation to the medical institution server, and controls theautonomous drive unit 40 to drive the vehicle to the safety area or themedical institution.

Here, if the vehicle is a leader, the follow-up control unit 30 givesthe leader vehicle authority to the primary follower vehicle beforeleaving from the group driving.

In addition, if one or more of the follower vehicles leave from thegroup driving, the follow-up control unit 30 of leader vehiclecontinuously performs group driving by adjusting the group sequence.

As such, the method and apparatus for controlling group drivingaccording to this embodiment of the present invention is to analyze thedriver's condition during group driving and let out one or more vehiclesfrom group driving according to the analysis result.

In addition, this embodiment of the present invention allows drivers toobtain medical services by leaving the group driving if the condition ofthe driver becomes abnormal during the group driving.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the follow-up controlunit 30 of the leader vehicle determines whether there is a vehiclewhich does not belong to the driving group.

The follow-up control unit 30 of the leader vehicle detects vehiclesincluding the driving group using sensors (crash sensor, steeringsensor, speed sensor, inclination sensor, weight sensor, yaw ratesensor, gyro sensor and etc). And the follow-up control unit 30 of theleader vehicle determines whether a vehicle with no approval of theleader vehicle (i.e., not joined to the group driving) is present in thedriving group

If a vehicle with no approval of the leader vehicle is found in adriving group as illustrated in FIG. 3, the leader vehicle is given anidentification code (ID) that has sequential values according to thedistance from the leader vehicle.

Here, other group vehicle is defined as a group vehicle that belongs tothe driving group of the leader vehicle and is distinguished from theleader vehicle. The leader vehicle also gives itself an identificationcode. The identification code given to a group vehicle serves as thebasis for maintaining the order alignment of a group vehicle in groupdriving, and thus prevents the vehicle release due to movement of thegroup vehicle at the time of the group driving.

The leader vehicle is then moved to the target lane and then transferredto another group vehicle belonging to the driving group. The target laneis the target for the maintenance of the order of the group vehicles.The leader vehicle can be moved to the target lane (the current drivinglane or the adjacent lane). Then, the target lane information istransmitted to the other group vehicles so that the other group vehiclescan move to the target lane.

Subsequently, the other group vehicles move to the target lane accordingto the received information. Other group vehicles are moved to thetarget lane while maintaining the order alignment according to theidentification code as illustrated in FIG. 4. As a result, in the courseof moving to the target lane, other group vehicles can maintain eachorder alignment, thus preventing disassembly.

Subsequently, after the other group vehicles moved to the target lane,the first group vehicle belonging to the first driving group among theplurality of groups separated and formed by the other vehicle joins thesecond driving group.

Here, the first driving group and the second driving group aredetermined based on the number of group vehicles belonging to eachdriving group. Specifically, the first driving group and the seconddriving group are determined such that the number of the first groupvehicles belonging to the first driving group is smaller than the numberof the second group vehicle belonging to the second driving group. Ifthe number of the first group vehicles is equal to the number of thesecond group vehicles, the first driving group is determined to be adriving group driving in front of the second driving group. That is, theforward driving group is determined as the first driving group and therear driving group is determined as the second driving group when thenumber of the group vehicles belonging to each driving group is thesame.

The last vehicle of the second group vehicle belonging to the seconddriving group decelerates to secure a space with the forward groupvehicles and the first group vehicles joins the second driving groupthrough the space.

This process will be specifically described as an example shown in FIGS.5 to 8.

Referring to FIG. 5, the driving group is divided into two drivinggroups by the other vehicle. The number of the group vehicles belongingto the forward travel group is one and the number of the group vehiclesbelonging to the rearward travel group is two so that the forward travelgroup becomes the first travel group and the rear travel group becomesthe second travel group. The first group vehicle joins the second travelgroup to maintain the efficiency of the row. At this time, the lastgroup vehicle of the second group vehicle decelerates to secure a spacewith the preceding vehicle, and the first group vehicle joins the secondtravel group through the secured space.

Referring to FIG. 6, the driving group is divided into two drivinggroups by the other vehicle. Since the number of group vehiclesbelonging to the forward driving group is two and the number of thecommunity vehicles belonging to the rear driving group is one, it isdetermined that the rearward driving group is the first driving groupand the forward driving group is the second driving group. And the firstgroup vehicle joins the second driving group for the efficiency of therow maintenance. At this time, the last group vehicle of the secondgroup vehicles decelerates to secure a space with the preceding vehicle,and the first group vehicle joins the second driving group through thespace.

Referring to FIG. 7, the driving group is divided into two drivinggroups by the other vehicle. The number of the group vehicles belongingto the forward driving group is three and the number of the groupvehicles belonging to the rear driving group is two so that the reardriving group is the first driving group and the forward driving groupis the second driving group. And the first group vehicles joins thesecond driving group for the efficiency of the row maintenance. At thistime, the last group vehicle of the second group vehicles decelerates tosecure a space with the preceding vehicle, and the first group vehiclesjoins the second driving group through the space.

Referring to FIG. 8, the driving group is divided into two drivinggroups by the other vehicle. Since the number of group vehicle belongingto each of the forward and rearward driving groups is equal to one, theforward driving group becomes the first driving group and the reardriving group becomes the second driving group. The first group vehiclejoins the second driving group so as not to disturb the driving of theother vehicle. At this time, the last group vehicle of the second groupvehicle decelerates to secure a space with the preceding vehicle, andthe first group vehicle joins the second driving group through thespace.

On the other hand, when the first group vehicle joins the second drivinggroup, the first group vehicle joins while maintaining the orderaccording to the assigned identification code. Accordingly, in theprocess of joining the second driving group, the first group vehicle canmaintain order, thereby preventing the vehicles from being deviated.

In the above description, two driving groups (i.e., the first drivinggroup and the second driving group) among the plurality of drivinggroups separated from each other by the other vehicle in the drivinggroup join each other.

On the other hand, this process is performed again until a plurality ofdriving groups form line.

Referring to FIG. 9, the driving group is divided into three drivinggroups by other vehicles. The front-most driving group having thesmallest number of the group vehicles becomes the first driving group.The intermediate driving group having a smaller number of group vehiclesbecomes the second driving group. Through the above-described process,the first group vehicles join to the second driving group, and the lineas shown in FIG. 10 is formed. At this time, the above-mentioned processis again performed. The forward driving group having the smaller numberof group vehicles becomes the first driving group, the rear drivinggroup becomes the second driving group, and the first group vehiclesjoin the second driving group. Through this process, a plurality ofdriving groups can form line.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the group line aredisturbed by other vehicles intervening in the driving group, theprocess of maintaining the group lines can be applied to prevent thegroup from being released. It is possible to improve the efficiency ofthe group driving by eliminating the priorities in advance.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the follow-up controlunit 30 requests approval of joining the group driving group to theleader vehicle of the corresponding driving group by paying the fee forjoining the driving group.

The follow-up control unit 30 controls the inter-vehicle communicationunit 10 to request a destination of the driving group from the server orthe leader vehicle of the driving group through the communicationnetwork.

When the destinations of the driving groups is transmitted through thecommunication network, the follow-up control unit 30 compares thedestination of the vehicle detected by the navigation with thedestinations of the driving groups to determine whether there is adriving group having the same destination as the destination of thevehicle. And the follow-up control unit 30 selects the correspondingdriving group based on the determination result.

On the other hand, if there is no driving group having the samedestination as the destination of the vehicle, the follow-up controlunit 30 primarily selects the driving group which has the destinationthat is closest to the destination of the vehicle.

In this case, a plurality of groups may be selected as the primaryselected driving group.

If the driving groups are selected based on the destination of thevehicle and the destinations of the driving groups, the follow-upcontrol unit requests group driving information to the leader vehiclesof the corresponding driving groups from the server or each of theleader vehicles of the primary selected driving groups.

The group driving information includes the vehicle information of theleader vehicle of the driving group and the cumulative distance of theleader vehicle, and the group driving information is basic informationfor securing the reliability of the leader vehicle of the correspondingdriving group.

Here, the vehicle information of the leader vehicle may include avehicle type, a sensor model, a camera model, the number of sensors, andthe number of cameras.

The cumulative distance is the distance of the total distance traveledby the leader vehicle in group driving.

When the group driving information is transmitted, the follow-up controlunit 30 finally determines the driving group by analyzing the groupdriving information.

Here, if there is one driving group that is primarily selected based onthe destination of the vehicle and the destination of the driving group,the follow-up control unit 30 outputs the group driving information ofthe corresponding driving group through the user interface unit. Thefollow-up control unit 30 determines that the corresponding drivinggroup is the final driving group to join.

In this case, the driver recognizes the group vehicle information andagrees with the final driving group determined by the follow-up controlunit 30, or may abandon the joining to the driving group.

On the other hand, if there are a plurality of driving groups that areprimarily selected based on the destination of the vehicle and thedestinations of the driving groups, the follow-up control unit 30outputs the group driving information of each of the driving groupsthrough the user interface unit. The group driving information of eachdriving group is analyzed and one driving group is determined based onthe analysis result.

In this case, the driver recognizes the group driving information ofeach driving group, agrees with the driving group determined by thefollow-up control unit 30, or can arbitrarily select any one of theother driving groups. The follow-up control unit 30 finally determinesthe driving group according to the selection of the driver.

When the driving group is determined as described above, the follow-upcontrol unit 30 determines a joining point to join the driving groupbased on the position of the vehicle.

For this, the follow-up control unit 30 detects the position of thevehicle through navigation, receives the group driving trajectory fromthe leader vehicle of the corresponding driving group, and determines ajoining point according to the position of the vehicle and the groupdriving trajectory of the driving group

In this case, a plurality of joining points may be searched according tothe position of the vehicle and the group driving trajectory of thedriving group.

When there are a plurality of joining points, the follow-up control unit30 determines a joining point according to at least one of the distancefrom the position of the vehicle to the joining point, the trafficsituation information of the joining point, the accident risk of thejoining point and etc.

In some cases, the follow-up control unit 30 assigns weights to thedistance from the position of the vehicle to the joining point, thetraffic situation information at the joining point, the accident risk ofthe joining point, and the cost up to the joining point and determinesone joining point based on the weighted factor.

The follow-up control unit 30 outputs the distance from the position ofthe vehicle to the joining point, the traffic situation information ofthe joining point, the accident risk of the joining point, and the costup to the joining point through the user interface unit and outputs thejoining point.

At this time, the driver can agree on the determined joining point, butwithout consent, the driver can select the joining point based on thedistance from the position of the vehicle to the joining point, thetraffic situation information of the joining point, the accident risk ofthe joining point. In this case, the follow-up control unit 30 finallydetermines the joining point according to the selection of the driver.

When the joining point is determined, the follow-up control unit 30controls the autonomous drive unit 40 to drive the vehicle to thejoining point.

After reaching the joining point, when the vehicle arrives within arange in which short distance communication with the leader vehicle ofthe driving group is available, the follow-up control unit 30 pays a feefor the group driving for approval of joining.

The follow-up control unit 30 joins the tail of the correspondingdriving group in an autonomous driving mode when the vehicle is capableof autonomous driving, or joins the vehicle to a position in the drivinggroup according to the driver's selection.

On the other hand, if the autonomous driving is not possible, thefollow-up control unit 30 controls the user interface unit to selecteither the manual joining method or the automatic joining method.

At this time, when the manual merge mode is selected, the vehicle isdriven according to the driver's action and joins the group driving. Thefollow-up control unit 30 turns on a driving assistance function such asSCC (Smart Cruise Control), LKA (Lane Keeping Assistance) and ACC (AutoCruise Control).

On the other hand, if the automatic joining mode is selected, thefollow-up control unit 30 controls the autonomous drive unit 40 to turnon the driving assistance function and drive the semi-autonomous drivingto joining into the last position in the group.

On the other hand, if the vehicle joins the driving group as describedabove, the follow-up control unit 30 determines the point of deviating.

In the case, there are a plurality of points of deviating, the follow-upcontrol unit 30 controls the navigation to select one point of deviatingaccording to geographical position, road structure, etc.

The follow-up control unit 30 controls the navigation while the vehicleis driving so as to check whether the vehicle arrives within the setdistance from the point of deviating or within the set time from theestimated time to arrive at the point of deviating.

In this case, when the vehicle arrives within the set distance from thepoint of deviating or within the set time from the estimated time toarrive at the point of deviating, the follow-up control unit 30 guidesthe arrival at the point of deviating via the user interface unit. Andthe follow-up control unit 30 allows the vehicle to leave from the groupdriving.

Meanwhile, in the above process, when the vehicle joins or deviates thedriving group, and the speeding vehicle or the danger obstacle exists,the follow-up control unit 30 may limit the joining or deviating of thevehicle.

In this embodiment, a driving group that is best suited to the drivingstate of the vehicle is selected from among the plurality of the drivinggroups, so that they can join or deviate the corresponding drivinggroup.

In addition, the navigation system, smart phone, V2X and etc are used toprovide various options to the driver when selecting a group driving,and safety and it allows convenience of the vehicle can be ensured bytaking into account various driving situations when joining or deviatingthe group.

In addition, by allowing the leader vehicle of the group driving groupto follow other lanes, it is possible to minimize the distance betweenthe vehicle and the leader vehicle, thereby increasing the efficiency ofthe road and improving the followability to the leader vehicle.

Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed forillustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatvarious modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined in theaccompanying claims. Accordingly, the true scope of the presentinvention should be determined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for controlling group driving of adriving group comprising vehicles, the apparatus comprising: aninter-vehicle communication unit configured to communicate with a leadervehicle of the vehicles to receive the driving state and traveling trackof the leader vehicle; a leader vehicle learning unit configure to learna driving pattern of the leader vehicle based on the driving state ofthe leader vehicle received through the inter-vehicle communicationunit; an autonomous drive unit configured to autonomously drive afollower vehicle of the vehicles in accordance with the traveling trackof the leader vehicle; and a follow-up control unit configured tocontrol the autonomous drive unit to follow the traveling track of theleader vehicle by applying the driving pattern of the leader vehicle,provide an identification code (ID) for each of the vehicles of thedriving group, in response to another vehicle intervening in the drivinggroup, and maintain an order of the vehicles in the driving group toexclude the another vehicle based on the ID for each of the vehicles. 2.The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a storage configured tostore the driving state and the traveling track of the leader vehiclereceived from the leader vehicle and the driving pattern of the leadervehicle.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driving state of theleader vehicle comprises any one or any combination of lane changetiming, an entry steer angle, and an entry speed in accordance with typeand situation of the road in the leader vehicle.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the follow-up control unit is further configured toperform autonomous driving to join the follower vehicle in the drivinggroup by applying the driving pattern of the leader vehicle, in responseto the follower vehicle deviating from the group driving.
 5. A method ofcontrolling group driving of vehicles in a driving group, the methodcomprising: performing, by a follow-up control unit, group drivingthrough an autonomous drive unit according to a traveling track receivedfrom a leader vehicle of the vehicles; receiving, by the follow-upcontrol unit, a driving state of the leader vehicle from the leadervehicle during the group driving to learn a driving pattern of theleader vehicle; performing, by the follow-up control unit, autonomousdriving by applying the driving pattern of the leader vehicle; providingan identification code (ID) for each of the vehicles of the drivinggroup, in response to another vehicle intervening in the driving group;and maintain an order of the vehicles in the driving group to excludethe another vehicle based on the ID for each of the vehicles.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, wherein the driving state of the leader vehiclecomprises any one or any combination of lane change timing, an entrysteer angle and an entry speed in accordance with the type and situationof the road in the leader vehicle.
 7. The method of claim 5, furthercomprising: storing, by the follow-up control unit, the traveling trackand the driving state of the leader vehicle received from the leadervehicle and the driving pattern of the leader vehicle in a storage. 8.The method of claim 5, wherein the performing of the autonomous drivingcomprises performing the autonomous driving to join the follower vehiclein the driving group by applying the driving pattern of the leadervehicle, in response to the follower vehicle deviating form the drivinggroup.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the (ID) for each vehicle ofthe driving group has a sequential value according to a distance fromthe leader vehicle.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the follow-upcontrol unit is further configured to divide the driving group into twoor more driving groups based on the ID for each of the vehicle and aposition of the another vehicle; and maintain an order of the vehiclesbased on adjusting a speed of at least one vehicle of the vehicles tocombine the two or more driving groups.